Simon Pegg is a troubled soul in this trailer for Lost Transmission

Simon Pegg may have made his name in the comedic roles of director Edgar Wright’s “Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy”, but the actor has shown over the years that he has a lot more range and has transitioned into a wide number of genres. He may be taking on his most dramatic role yet in Lost Transmission, where he plays the role of a music producer struggling with schizophrenia and trying to make sense of the world.

Lost Transmission is actually based on a true story about renowned music producer named Theo Ross (Pegg) who decides to go off his medication, leaving his songwriter friend Hannah (Juno Temple) to try to help him get the care he desperately needs and finds herself chasing him through L.A. as his condition causes him to lose his grip on reality (or perhaps get more in touch with it). It’s a deep movie, that doesn’t exactly sound like a barrel of fun, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be any good. And now we have a trailer for the film to see for ourselves what it’s all about:

I found this trailer rather confusing. It doesn’t clearly explain the story well – which is fine, as trailers aren’t supposed to – but its biggest problem is that it appears to focus more on Temple’s character and her journey through Hollywood trying to make a name for herself and write songs for Alexandra Daddario’s character. You don’t really get too much of the essence of the mental illness of Pegg’s character which is supposed to be the central plot of the movie. If there is one thing the trailer does get right though it is nailing the sombre tone of the initial story, though all this just likely means that this is going to be one movie that you probably aren’t going to watch if you’re in the need of a pick-me-up.

It’s great to see a film tackling mental illnesses like this, but I feel the tone might put a lot of people off, even if the acting performances turn out to be exceptional. Lost Transmissions is directed by Katharine O’Brien and is scheduled to release to on-demand and streaming service later this month.

Last Updated: March 9, 2020